115. Spy: Wiremu

Ruku got me into the base. Captain Tait was definitely suspicious but assigned a corporal to escort us around. I didn’t want to tell them I thought they were going to get raided as they would tighten security, and I would miss the opportunity. The potential opportunity. They didn’t just have one stockpile. They had several stockpile spread close to different wharves. It was a large base with multiple wharves and docked ships. I had not realised how large it was.

I was right, and they did store explosives in stone bunkers. However, they were enchanted stone bunkers. I could push my Granite Sense through, but I could only hook storage crates on the stone. If I were robbing it, I would take the easy ones off the top. I used six of my Hunters Marks, marking two crates in what I considered to be the three most vulnerable bunkers.

I visited the explosive alchemist, and she had not had any unexpected orders, although she was reluctant to discuss that with me. My Truth Sensing was saying that she didn’t lie anyway. She had a storage facility buried behind her workshop, both of which were built from thick solid stone. I left my final Mark on a wagon full, ready to be delivered. She had far less stockpiled, but she was a much easier target.

This was only possible because I had a 7.5km range on my Hunters Marks. I set myself up about halfway between the Navy base and the Alchemist and waited for night. Early in the morning, the wagon at the Alchemists started moving. When I went to check, it wasn’t being stolen, just delivered. Now I had a choice to make. If I followed the wagon to the mine, I would lose the Marks in the Navy depot when I got out of range. On the move, a wagon full of explosives is much easier to hijack than raiding any depot. It also wouldn’t need a high-level thief, just some thugs. I decided to follow the wagon. With some effort, I could get back into the navy base if I needed to.

The wagon had a driver and two guards, although I think all three were experienced fighters. I kept over two kilometres behind the wagon, well out of sight. The morning dragged on. Tāoke and I followed some game trails, and I practised using Hunters Mark on some deer we found. We didn’t kill any, as I didn’t want to be burdened if I needed to move fast. I was able to Mark the deer without it noticing, but as soon as I tugged on the mark to slow it down, it was immediately aware of being in danger ad took off as fast as it could. The Mark’s slow effect didn’t seem to be affected by distance. That will help me catch a fleeing target much quicker. I could only place Marks if they were in my Spiritual Senses range, even if the target already had a mark. If I wanted to place multiple marks, I would have to do so while they were still in range. Hunters Mark went to level 3.

About lunchtime, the wagon stopped. Were they having lunch, or were they being ambushed? I had fallen a bit behind while experimenting with my new skill, so it took me a while to reach them. Before I arrived, the wagon started moving again. I went into stealth and crept up to where the wagon had stopped. There were multiple bodies on the ground. The guards had accounted for themselves well, but you don’t attack without thinking you can succeed. In this case, they guessed correctly, but it had been costly. I felt terrible for the guards, but this was a risk of the job. I checked the bodies for anything that might identify where they were from. The survivors had taken any coin and any good equipment from the bodies.

The wagon had turned off the main road and onto a forestry track. We kept well behind and followed most of the afternoon. The wagon finally came to a stop, and we carefully crept closer. With my mapping ability, I would never be able to get lost, so I was aware we had looped back toward the coast north of Obalno. This heavily forested area supplied a lot of the timber for Obalno’s shipbuilding industry. The track the wagon had followed was one of the logging tracks used by the bullock teams to transport logs from the forest.

When I caught up to it, the wagon was parked outside a foresters cabin. There was a loud argument taking place outside the cabin. On one side, there were four heavily armed humans, which I guessed were the remnants of the ambush squad. They were unhappy that most of their team was killed and were complaining that the Dwarf facing them had misrepresented the job. The Dwarf facing them looked like a grocer, which made the humans more aggressive, thinking they could bully the Dwarf. I figured this was the spy, and you don’t underestimate a highly trained spy who has spent his career looking harmless.

Just as I thought this, the most aggressive of the humans stepped forward to make the altercation physical. Faster than even my perception could pick up, the dwarf gutted him with a large knife and stepped around to stab the next person. There was a flurry of activity, and then all four humans were down, and the dwarf turned back toward the cabin with only a slight limp. I figured now was my chance to disable him. I didn’t have time to draw my bow, so I threw one of my stone knives. It pierced his back, and he went down and didn’t move. I cautiously went forward to check on him, keeping one eye on the cabin, not trusting him but fairly confident there was no one else in the cabin. It was supposed to be a disabling throw.

He was dead. I was puzzled about how that happened until I realised I had attacked from stealth, and Sudden Strike had triggered from my Assassin Class. This gave a bonus to the attack. I hadn’t properly tested Sudden Strike as I had just been doing with my Hunters Mark. I haven’t had the opportunity to go hunting and work out the intricacies of it. I have just learned that if I don’t want it to trigger from stealth, I must consciously turn it off. Always, always test the limits and intricacies of a new skill.

Now I have a dead spy I cannot question. There was no one else in the cabin and only a small pack with the dwarf with survival supplies. I collected all the coins and good gear from everyone there and then left them. I turned the wagon around and drove it back to the main road. I knew the mine it was going to, and that was only a couple of hours down the road, so I drove the wagon there and told them that I had found it by a bunch of bodies by the road. I gave them my Mercenary Guild identity for any reward, and they dispatched some people to investigate my claim. I left them to it.

I hunted through the night, testing Sudden Strike and Hunters Mark thoroughly. Tāoke decided he wanted to learn both of those Skills, so we stayed out so he could also practice. Tāoke was going to be devastating with Sudden Strike as he almost always attacked from ambush. We arrived at the Quarry at dawn, loaded down with pelts and meat. I missed having Rocky with me or any horse during times like these.

I caught a few hours of sleep and then cleaned and treated the hides and set them to dry. The Canine Queens, the Catkin and Abigail were all at the quarry. There were four hired guards there as well. Appā had started the treatments to regrow his arm and was being supervised by Ört. I think Ört was trying to learn the Limb Regeneration Specialisation for Healers. It would take a while, but I am sure he will get there eventually.

I went into the city before the gates closed and caught up with Tabitha. She laughed when I told her how I killed the spy. We were confident we had foiled the explosive part of their plot, even if we didn’t know what they were planning to explode. The Swift Wave would need to provide explosives, or the Spider have a way to provide them for this to continue. I would be happier if I knew the target. We decided not to tell Sione the spy was dead. I am sure it is all good training for them.

The Comedic Rhythm was starting the last set of public performances tonight, so I went with them for a night out. Ruku was there as well, and his foot was healing well. Ruku was based at the warehouse, recruiting and helping our caravan master start to assemble the caravan to Kirghiz, all that was happening at the warehouse.

The final countdown to the Gala has begun.